RL Run on 2 Nov`06 (Thu)

Felt fresh after a day rest (thanks to the rain) and joined RL run for another "cheong" session. tktan & LM joined us for the first time. Good to see many familiar faces like IMD, fennel, George, Terence, cokiee, dasher, SV etc. Hmm, seemed like I only appeared once a month nowadays! LM was late and tktan waited for him while the rest headed for warm up at open space opposite Hill Street. After a quick stretch lead by IMD, the group started the run and the speed monsters(George, Terence, cokiee, dasher) sped off. Had to run through a "raining tree" outside the Asian Civilization Museum -- yucks, slowed down as I dun wanna get my shoes wet! Lost of sense of pace as I chased after the speed monsters -- was I slow or they were fast??!! Crossed path with Eddie who was in his relax running form. IMD would slow down periodically to wait for the runners and gave encouragement to passing runners. Uhm, heard he did a 8km run prior to this 10km run. Caught up with fennel @ Marina Promonade -- she slowed down as she was feeling discomfort from a heavy lunch. As I approached Sir Arthur Bridge, saw dasher on the return route -- he u-turned earlier due to dry throat. It was dark @ Kallang Riverside Park as the street lamps were out of order. Close to the u-turn point, saw George, Terence and the front pack on the return route -- we gave one another thumb up. Time check @ U-turn point was 25min -- huh, y was I so slow today!! (Later realised that I mis-calculated -- 5:30min/km pace should be 27.5min @ 5km) Panicked and started to increase my pace -- abandoned my plan to do an extra loop @ Kallang Riverside Park. After crossing Sir Arthur Bridge, saw IMD chatting with another runner while waiting for the rest. Met tktan & LM and signalled to them that U-turn was after the bridge -- they decided to cut short the distance and followed me back. LM stopped to catch his breath shortly while tktan followed closely behind -- hmm, could hear his foot steps and sound very relax. Aiyoh, I must be running slow! So started to chase after runners infront of me and overtook one by one. Had to slow down a bit when I started to experience stitches @ Marina Promonade. tktan took a breather @ Esplanade to wait for LM while I finished the run with final dash. Time check was 50:58min -- HUH, 5:06min/km pace!! It dawned on me that I had mis-calculated! Very shiok run and enjoyed the warm down stretch lead by Eddie. Back @ RL, I bought another set of lock lace and stocked up on hammergel (yummy raspberry & tropical flavour). Had dinner @ Komola's(Indian fast food at Peninsula Plaza) with fennel, George and tktan -- my paper dosai was HUGE!


P.S. Boy, thanks to my lousy maths, that's my PB after my last run @ 53:29min in August :) During the run, my breathing was fast -- definitely not a chatting pace. And I felt my body heated up -- good thing the cool breeze helped to cool down. Must control my pace for this Sat's long run -- dun wanna experience another burnt CPU! Oh, LM did well -- he ran his longest distance of 8.6km! Next NUS run, we can try 10km :)

Route : Start @ Hill Street -> Esplanade -> Marina Promonade -> Kallang Water Sports Club -> Cross Sir Arthur Bridge -> Kallang Riverside Park -> U-turn @ Furniture Warehouse

Distance : 10km
Time : 50:58min
Avg Pace : 5:06min/km (Didn't know I can sustain this pace for so long!)